Problem
A newly discovered species of lobster has a variety of variants in shell [exoskeleton] colouration. This character behaves like a single gene, autosomal character with 4 alleles showing the following pattern of dominance. The allele C, for black shell colour, is completely dominant to all other alleles. The callele, for blue shell colour, is recessive to CR but completely dominant to c' and c". The c' allele, for red shell colour, is recessive to C and c but is completely dominant to c". The c" allele, for white shell colour, is recessive to the other alleles. Solve the following problems.
1. A male blue lobster has a parent with black shell colour and another with white shell colour. A female red lobster has a parent with blue shell colour and a parent with white shell colour. What are the genotypes of the blue lobster and the red lobster? What are the genotypes of their parents? If the blue lobster and red lobster are mated, what are the expected genotypic and phenotypic ratios for the F1 generation of this cross?
2. A female blue lobster is randomly selected from a highly heterogeneous population of lobsters, i.e. all shell colour phenotypes.